1OB Prospect Report: Cleveland Monsters Continue to Roll on the Strength of Their Veterans

It’s been a while since we took a look at what's happening down on the farm.

The Monsters continue to truck along, sitting third in the North Division with 30 points. Their offensive leaders continue to be veterans Zac Dalpe and Nathan Gerbe; Dalpe has cooled down considerably, scoring just one goal since a two-goal game on Nov. 4. He still leads the team with 13 goals and 26 points. Gerbe is second on the team with 21 points in 27 games.

With Dalpe cooling down, the Monsters have received a scoring boost from Sonny Milano. Milano was sent down by the Blue Jackets and has since played 16 games with Cleveland, with six goals and 10 points over that span. He’s still a flawed player, though; his defensive game leaves much to be desired and he does most of his scoring on the power play. Six of his 16 points have come with the man advantage, which already ranks second on the team. It’s not like the Blue Jackets need power play help, anyway.

On the defensive side of things, the Monsters need improvements. They have one solid player in Adam Clendening, who has 12 points in 12 games. The only other defenseman to clear 10 points is Tommy Cross (12). The rest of the group are big and physical and aren’t much of point producers. This is one thing holding the team back from being one of the better teams in the AHL.

In net, JF-Berube has been playing about as expected. His .906 save percentage is a bit down from his .913 career mark, but part of that is due to the play in front of him. The Monsters, like many AHL teams, have this tendency that when they lose, they lose big. That can really hurt a goalie’s stats. After Berube there hasn’t been much support. Matiss Kivlenieks has only played eight games, and in those eight games he has just a .906 save percentage.

In other prospect news Kirill Marchenko and Daniil Tarasov have made Russia’s World Junior roster, while Liam Foudy was cut by Team Canada. Tim Berni is expected to make Switzerland and Emil Bemstrom has a good chance to make Team Sweden.